七 = seven
転 = fall down
八 = eight
起 = get up
In other words, “fall down seven times, get up eight times”, or “even if you fail a lot, don’t give up!”
七転八起 is a special kind of Japaneses idiom known as a 四字熟語 (よじじゅくご、yo-ji-juku-go), or 4-character idiom. As the name suggests, these are idiomatic phrases made of 4 kanji.
They often contain a small life lesson or moral message, similar to English sayings such as “you reap what you sow” and “the early bird gets the worm”.
The artwork above is available from my Etsy site here
Calligraphy by Vicky 